The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, has announced a contract award for dredging of the stamp sands in the Keweenaw Peninsula between Gay, Michigan and the Grand Traverse Harbor.
Petersen Companies, Inc., of Minocqua, Wisconsin, will dredge approximately 27,500 cubic yards of stamp sands from in and around the Grand Traverse Harbor, according to the Corps.
Also, an additional 80,000 cubic yards of stamp sands will be removed from the ancient riverbed area north of Buffalo Reef known as the ‘trough’ in order to delay further sedimentation by the littoral drift in the stamp sands into the reef and the juvenile whitefish recruitment area south of the harbor.
Dredging is scheduled to be complete during summer 2019.
“ This environmental improvement project is a perfect example of our district mission to protect the environment and be good stewards to vulnerable habitats that are vital to the Great Lakes ecosystem ,” said Steve Check, project manager, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District . “ Dredging will buy time for the multi-agency team to develop a long-term, adaptive management plan to deal with the estimated 15 million cubic yards of stamp sands that continue to threaten the reef through littoral drift .”
This project is being executed in cooperation between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to save the 2,200 acre Buffalo Reef in Lake Superior from the encroaching stamp sands.